Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has had a great week and is looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  Hang in there!  Just two more school days before Thanksgiving break!

Monday’s meeting slot is scheduled for SAIS committees.  However, you may use the time to work on curriculum issues instead.   There is certainly no need for a lengthy stay after school either day next week.

We will be on chapel schedule next Tuesday for our Thanksgiving Chapel.  This schedule is posted on the Faculty Staff Bulletin and will be emailed to you early next week as well.

Best of luck to our Wildcats as they take on Luverne tonight!

Have a great weekend, and GO CATS!

Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Veteran’s Day holiday Wednesday.  Each year I am reminded of how much we owe the brave men and women of our armed forces – those serving today, those who have gone before, and especially those who have given their lives for our freedom.  While it is a refreshing break for us, let’s not forget why it is celebrated.

Take so time to peruse and bookmark this site, presented by the Verison Foundation.  It includes multiple resources for teachers of all grade levels.  Hopefully you will stumble upon some things that you can use in your teaching.

When checking out our Mac Mobile Laptop Cart, please be mindful of the many other teachers who wish to use this valuable resource.  We are asking that you limit use of the cart to no more than two to three days at a time.  Also, please make absolutely sure that the cart is locked when not in use, and that your classroom is appropriately secured.

Please make plans to join us at our first ever Middle School Bonfire and Cookout tomorrow night.  We will meet by the tennis courts from 6-8pm.  Don’t worry, we’ll show the Alabama and Auburn football games!  This will be a great opportunity for us to fellowship with our students outside the classroom environment.

Have a great weekend!

Faculty Notes

Teachers,

Thanks so much for your continued help this week as we have tried to have as normal a week as possible.  I especially appreciate your support of our dress down day for Project Give on Thursday, and our Paw Print spirit day today.

We will be meeting at 3:40 Monday afternoon in Kathy Pirtle's room.

Have a great weekend!

Faculty Notes

Teachers,

I have come away from this week convinced that you and I have been placed at Trinity by the will of God, and that we serve a very important purpose each and every day. Words cannot express my appreciation for the way you have handled what has been a very tough week. I have seen you function as the Body of Christ, ministering to our students through their grief, and showing them the love that they need to see and feel during such a trying time.

Please continue to keep an eye on all of our students in the days and weeks ahead. We will all be passing through various stages of grief, and we will need each other more than ever.

Our plan for this week is to have a sense of normalcy return to our campus. However, please continue to be sensitive to the way you classes feel at any given moment. You know your kids best.

Many thanks to Kay Kirtland and Ahna Baggett, along with Latrell and Anita for standing in the gap up a Camp Cosby. I knew that the 6th-graders were in good hands as we guided our kids through this tragedy back home. I owe those kids a field trip, so we're going to put together a day trip sometime in the spring (thanks, Kay!).

Thanks also to Whittington McLemore for preparing and running our trip to the Capitol, State House, and Judicial Building Friday. It was so good for our 7th-graders to get off campus at the end of the week.

To the 8th-grade teachers, thanks for letting the kids have some time to talk Thursday. Your flexibility allowed our kids to pray, begin the healing process, and bond as a class. I know they are grateful for that time.

I am deeply humbled to serve as your principal, and I look forward to seeing each of you tomorrow morning. I will send an email early in the day with the business of the week. For now, please accept my heartfelt thanks for a job well done.

God Bless.

Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

Thanks for putting up with “Homecoming Madness” around here the last few days!  The kids certainly were creative with our spirit days, and seemed to have fun this week.

Please mark your calendars now for a 6-12 chapel to be held November 2.   We will be talking about Neverthirst, which is a ministry that provides clean drinking water in communities where dirty water accounts for a great deal of sickness and death each year.  We will also learn about Friendship Mission, a local ministry here in Montgomery.  This will begin a school wide emphasis on the importance of focusing on missions locally and around the world.  You may find out more about Neverthirst by accessing their website here.

Please remember that I will be away at Camp Cosby with our 6^th grade students Monday through Wednesday of next week.  Randy Ragsdale will be acting principal in my absence.

Our 7^th grade students will be out of school next Friday as we tour Montgomery’s government buildings.  As a part of their Civics curriculum, students will be examining the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our state government, and will have a picture made with Governor Riley at the State Capitol Building.

We are excited to announce that Mayor Todd Strange will be our guest on Tuesday, November 17.  Mayor Strange will be having lunch with our student council as a part of our Lunch with Leaders program.

Here are a couple of links that may be of interest to you:

This site offers suggestions for ways you can go beyond Powerpoint presentations with the projectors in your classrooms.  These ideas, combined with the use of our SmartBoards should be able to provide you with quite a bit of variety in your daily teaching.

Tech and Learning offers some practical ideas regarding student-centered Wikis, demonstrating the truly interactive nature of Wikis and how they may be used in your classroom.

Have a great weekend!

Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone has had a great week and is looking forward to homecoming at Trinity!

Here are some pictures of Justice Harold See visiting with our student council last week.  His presentation was quite impressive, and has prompted me to invite him to speak to the entire student body in the near future.

Thanks so much for you help with our testing this week.  Things went very well and that is due, as always, to your professionalism.  We sincerely appreciate the way you handle this each year.

Please be mindful of your weekly duty assignments and the general supervision of our students.  While we can't be everywhere at all times, we are expected to provide a reasonable amount of supervision while students are present on our campus.  Should you need to leave you classroom for a moment, please alert a teacher in an adjacent room or notify the office.  If you can't make a duty assignment, please find a substitute or notify the office.

Next week promises to be an exciting time for everyone here at Trinity.  Encourage your students to get into the homecoming spirit!  If you have a chance tomorrow, drop by and visit with the kids while they construct their floats -- they'll really appreciate that!

There will be no faculty meeting Monday.  Have a great weekend!

Faculty Notes

Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a great week and are looking forward to a much-deserved three-day weekend!

Many thanks to Whittington McLemore who helped put together our first ever "Lunch with Leaders" program for the student council.  Members of the council had the opportunity to have lunch with former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Harold See in our conference room.  Justice See spoke of his struggle to overcome dyslexia and a host of academic issues in elementary school, to eventually rise to the top of his class in high school, college, and law school.  He then spoke of his fascinating journey to the Alabama Supreme Court, and the challenges and rewards associated with service on the Court.

Students on the council asked intelligent questions and were engaged throughout the meeting.  In other words, they did us proud!  Congratulate them when you get a chance!

I would also like to thank Rebecca Helms for the wonderful job she did yesterday as our featured chapel speaker.  Look for more "middle school-only" chapels throughout the year.

You should have received a reminder sheet in your boxes today regarding grades for the 9-weeks.  Please make sure that everything is ready to import by Monday, October 19.

Thank you for your assistance with our testing next week.  I have every confidence that things will go well because of your professionalism and attention to detail.

Have a great weekend!